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Sunday, April 13, 2008

I've been making this Avocado- Pine Nut Saladfor YEARS. First discovered at my sister's house eons ago while plowing through her loads of cookbooks, this has since become a classic family favorite. Need a great salad for a potluck? This is it. Need a salad that most people will eat? This is it. Need a new side salad for dinner because you're tired of the same old thing? This is it. Want to impress your guests? Can't help you there, but this salad will help.

It's simple, and it's darn good. Many in my extended family and network of friends have now incorporated this salad into their meal rotations. It's that good! When I helped to publish the San Diego Junior League cookbook, California Sol Food, a few years ago- I submitted this recipe for review. We published it as "Summer Salad," and added grilled chicken to the ingredients to make it a main dish salad- it's wonderful that way too.Pine nuts in anything are ok by me. And toasted... well, if they can make it to the dish before being completely devoured then that's just a miracle. I love toasted pine nuts in a salad. Add some vine-ripened tomatoes, Haas avocados, a sprinkle of mozzarella, and a tangy white-wine vinaigrette and you have this salad.

In college, we used to go on field trips to the pinyon pine forests to do our botany research. We would find the fallen pine cones and collect the raw pine nuts and eat them on the spot. I got so sick one time from eating raw nuts, that it still haunts me till this day. But Todd loves pine nuts, so we'll be making two version of this beautiful salad. One full of pine nuts for him and one with extra avocado for me! :)

How funny, I was on the Jr League cookbook committee here in Milwaukee five years ago! I worked on the appetizer chapter, and we tested TONS of recipes! It was so fun, but that cookbook sent me in to volunteer burnout and I dropped out of the League the following year! In retrospect, it was a great experience and I made a lot of friends on the committee. And like you, I turn to our cookbook all the time, cause the recipes are AWESOME!

Way to stand out! You have a great eclectic side, I would love this. Not in a gazillion years would I have thought to put pine nuts and avacado together. My first chef didn't like when I would cook outside the box. He would have gave you the evil eye for sure. Nice job!

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